Prime Minister Patronizes 12th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition (GEO 2016)

His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain patronised the 12th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition (GEO 2016) held from March 7 to 10 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre under the theme ‘Today’s Geoscience, Tomorrow’s Energy’. The event saw participation in large numbers of top officials, presidents and chief executives of international companies. A number of engineers and professionals who specialize in geology as well as oil industry experts and researchers took part in the conference.

H.R.H. the Prime Minister delegated Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa to the open Geo 2016 exhibition, which was inaugurated on Tuesday, March 8.

H.H. Shaikh Ali was accompanied to the venue by Minister of Energy His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza and a number of senior officials from Bahrain. A number of chief executives from companies in the field of geosciences and exploration and production technology from the region and around the world, including national oil companies, suppliers and service providers participated.

H.R.H. the Prime Minister delegated H.E. Dr. Mirza to open the Geo Conference, which was inaugurated on Monday, March 7.

In his speech on this occasion, the Energy Minister expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to H.R.H. the Prime Minister for his keenness to patronise the region’s key oil industry event since its inception in 1994, praising his continued support, sound directives and follow-ups on the conference, which confirmed the government’s interest in providing all support to such specialized endeavours. This, he said, contributed to the advancement of the oil and gas sector and helped develop skills in the region through the exchange of professional experiences from world over, supporting the oil industry and brought in economic gains to the Kingdom.

H.E. Dr. Mirza also expressed his gratitude and appreciation to H.H. Shaikh Ali for inaugurating the Geo 2016 Exhibition.

The Energy Minister delivered an opening speech at the beginning of the conference sessions in which he praised the remarkable success of the Geo series since its inception in 1994. He said the event had seen impressive participation from delegates and specialists in the field, praising the scientific papers presented at the conference and the discussions held on the latest developments in geosciences, technological inventions, and various oil and gas exploration issues. He stated his pleasure to see the prominent role played by the Geo series in the exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices in the Middle East as well as world over among interested parties, which was a real opportunity correctly and effectively developing resources, also in a safe and responsible manner.

H.E. Dr. Mirza said that the Arabian Gulf, home to the largest oil and gas reserves in the world had costly deep offshore exploration and growing technological challenges, noting that the biggest challenge was to combine technology, business and the human element. The challenge was also to find a way which enabled us to successfully produce these supplies and deliver them to the market efficiently, which requires the participation of all parties involved in the production process as well as consumers, both supply-side and demand-side.

The Minister added that the oil industry was in need for further advance cooperation between international oil companies and host countries, with initiatives targeting objectives such as better incentives to explore and produce difficult oil and collaborate with service companies to find innovative solutions to technical challenges. He pointed out that there were a number of exploration and drilling programs conducted in various parts of the world, which reflected the disposition and tremendous growth in the area. He said there was an urgent need to look at the shortfall of trained professionals in the field. He said the region had to work hard not only to recruit and develop for existing openings but to identify and hire young engineers, both men and women, to assume future leadership, which requires investment in competency development to meet international standards.

HE the Minister extended his thanks and appreciation to Mr. Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Chairman of Geo 2016 Executive Committee, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) and Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) for organizing the key event in Bahrain. He also congratulated Dhahran Geoscience Society (DGS), Bahrain Geoscience Society (BGS), Geological Society of Oman (GSO), Emirates Society of Geoscientists (ESG) and Qatar Geological Society for supporting the event, and all participating national and international oil companies for contributing to the success of Geo 2016. He also wished all delegates great learning experience and urged region’s professionals to benefit from the opportunity to understand the rapidly diversifying industry, wishing them success and a pleasant stay in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

This year the conference saw more than 1,300 participants, 130 GCC, regional and international exhibitors from 20 countries. The Geo exhibition had more than 5,000 visitors to check out the state of the art technology in the field of geoscience and from the oil sector.